Causes of Quakes - Current Knowledge

The cause of earthquakes is ultimately related to a universal mobility of the earth´s surface. There is evidence of the existence of forces constantly at work molding the "skin" of the globe. However, the origins of such forces is still not entirely known. Evidence is supplied by the data of structural and historical geology. Every mountain range in the world today consists in large part of sedimentary rocks that were at one time formations on the bottom of the ocean. Theories concerning the ultimate causes of the mobility of the earth´s crust have had their origin, for the most part, in attempts to explain the complex process of mountain making.